TOP USA HOSPITALS

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, ranks number one in the annual honor roll of best hospitals published by US News & World Report, replacing Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, which had the top spot last year and slipped to number three this year.

The Cleveland Clinic holds the number two spot in the annual honor roll of best US hospitals. This year, the honor roll has been expanded from 15 to 20 hospitals to highlight those delivering "exceptional treatment across multiple areas of care," the magazine says.

2016-2017 Best Hospitals Honor Roll

1. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
2. Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
3. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
4. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
5. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
6. New York–Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, New York City
7. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
8. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois
9. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania–Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia
10. NYU Langone Medical Center, New York City
11. Barnes–Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
12. UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, Pittsburgh
13. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
14. Stanford Health Care–Stanford Hospital, California
15. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City
16. Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina
17. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California
18. University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, Ann Arbor
19. Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas
20. University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora
    In the 2016-2017 Best Hospitals: Specialty Rankings, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center holds the number one spot in cancer, the Cleveland Clinic is number one in cardiology and heart surgery, and the Hospital for Special Surgery is number one in orthopedics.
    Top Five for Cancer
    1. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
    2. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
    3. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
    4. Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, Boston
    5. UCLA Medical Center
    Top Five for Cardiology and Heart Surgery
    1. Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
    2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
    3. New York–Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
    4. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
    5. Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina
    Top Five for Orthopedics
    1. Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
    2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
    3. Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
    4. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
    5. Hospital for Joint Diseases, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York
    Hospitals taking the number one spot in each of the other specialties are as follows:
    Diabetes & Endocrinology: Mayo Clinic
    Ear, Nose & Throat: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston
    Gastroenterology & GI Surgery: Mayo Clinic
    Geriatrics: Mayo Clinic
    Gynecology: Mayo Clinic
    Nephrology: Mayo Clinic
    Neurology & Neurosurgery: Mayo Clinic
    Ophthalmology: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute-Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital, Miami
    Psychiatry: Massachusetts General Hospi
    Pulmonology: Mayo Clinic
    Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
    Rheumatology: Johns Hopkins Hospital
    Urology: Mayo Clinic
    In 12 of the 16 specialties, ranking is determined by hard data that combine measures of performance in three primary dimensions of healthcare: structure (including hospital volume, nurse staffing, and other resources that define the hospital environment), process (including a hospital's reputation for developing and sustaining a system that delivers high-quality care), and outcomes performance (mostly survival data). US News collects objective quality data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the American Hospital Association, and professional organisations.
    Ranking in the other four specialties (ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and rheumatology) relies entirely on hospital reputation, as determined by physician surveys. US News said it does that because these specialties involve mostly outpatient care with very little incidence of death.
    According to US News, more than 90,000 patients a day are admitted to US hospitals. The magazine began publishing hospital rankings in 1990 to identify the best medical centers in various specialties for the most difficult patients — those whose illnesses pose unusual challenges because of underlying conditions, the difficulty of the procedure, or other medical issues that add risk, they say.
    To be initially eligible for ranking, a hospital must meet a minimum of one of four conditions: be a teaching hospital, be affiliated with a medical school, have at least 200 beds, or have at least 100 beds and offer at least four medical technologies from a list of eight that US News deems significant for a Best Hospitals patient population.
    US News & World Report also recognizes 504 Best Regional Hospitals in states and metropolitan areas.
    "We strive to provide patients with the highest-quality information on hospitals available," Ben Harder, chief of health analysis at US News, said in a news release. "Driving for broader transparency and evaluating hospitals in a comprehensive, fair way reflects that mission."
    More information on the US News best hospital report is available on the magazine's website.
    The Best Hospitals rankings were produced by US News with RTI International, a research organization based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. This edition of Best Hospitals is being sponsored by Fidelity Investments.